‘One of the most significant acts of medical negligence’: Review announced into cochlear implant errors at WCHN

A review will be conducted after children at the WCH had their cochlear implants incorrectly programmed, leading to fears of irreversible damage.

Dale and Lauren Smedley and their kids Reid, 8 and Logan, 5. Picture: Ben Clark

An independent review will be conducted into the cases of 30 children who had their cochlear implants incorrectly programmed, leading to fears of irreversible damage to their communication skills.

Following calls from the children’s families, which were backed by the state opposition, Health Minister Chris Picton announced the review on Monday.

“The team at the Women’s and Children’s Health Network, I think, now have been going through a good process in terms of following up all of those patients, following up in terms of making sure that they can be recalibrated,” he said.

“But I agree with those families that it is appropriate that we should have an independent review.

“ That’s why today I have asked the chief executive of SA Health, Dr Robyn Lawrence, to commission an independent review into what’s happened.”

Dr Lawrence will commission an interstate expert to conduct the independent review, and affected families will have the opportunity to share their experiences.

“I think we need to learn what’s happened over these past four plus years ... find out what what’s happened and make sure that we can learn the lessons so that this is not repeated into the future,” Mr Picton said.

Families of the children spoke on Sunday about the impact of the errors, which the hospital network has apologised for.

Among the families involved are Dale and Lauren Smedley, whose son, Logan, 5, was fitted with the implants.

“As a result of the hospital’s failure to turn up Logan’s cochlear implants over approximately four years, we believe he is severely delayed in his hearing and his speech,” Mr Smedley said.

“We just don’t want to see any other family have to go through what we’ve had to go through.”

A cochlear implant is a small device surgically inserted into the inner ear to assist with hearing.

Another parent who called for the review was Nat Salter. Picture: Ben Clark

The Smedley family appeared alongside paediatric audiologist Nicole Eglinton, whose practice has managed the extensive reprogramming of cochlear implants for nine children.

Ms Eglinton said she was “incredibly alarmed” that the children were making such poor progress with their listening and spoken language.

“Our initial testing showed that these children’s implants were programmed in a way that meant they could not hear speech sounds at a level that would allow them to learn to listen and speak,” she said.

David Speirs has called for an independent review on the cochlear implants. Picture: Ben Clark

Opposition Leader David Speirs called the issue “clearly, in my initial assessment, one of the most significant acts of medical negligence in recent history in this state”.

He and health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn had urged the government to immediately launch the review.

“It appears that someone in that building … or a group of people, can’t do their job properly,” Mr Speirs said.

“Those people need to be, in my view, stood down, this needs to be investigated independently and the issue here is not when this occurred, it’s how it occurred and how it will be repaired.”

Dr Sonja Latzel, a cochlear implant surgeon and director of surgery at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, said the network last year became aware of an issue affecting some children with the implants.

She said immediate action was taken to investigate the problem, including a review of all 117 families in the program. Issues were identified in the cases of about 30 children, who lived with incorrectly programmed implants for periods of up to five years.

“We have great regret over the fact that these children did not have their maps adjusted correctly and we wish to express our apology to the families involved that their children have not had their cochlear implants adjusted appropriately,” she said.

“We are taking every step we can to ensure that this will not happen again in the future and investigating the causes to ensure we address the issues that led to this.”